


Blame Dolly Parton

by AllThingsGeeky



Series: Spidey Sickfics [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Broken Bones, Kinda, Omorashi, Peter Parker Whump, Tony Stark acting as Peter Parker’s parental figure, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, Whump, irondad and spideyson, maybe minor omo idk, minor injury, omo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23219488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThingsGeeky/pseuds/AllThingsGeeky
Summary: Peter is the victim of an unfortunate shower incident and Tony's tasked with keeping him from further injury
Series: Spidey Sickfics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908067
Comments: 20
Kudos: 90





	1. Spiders and Bathtubs Don't Mix

It was embarrassing. 

Good god it was humiliating. 

He wasn’t even doing anything cool when it happened. In fact everything about the entire situation was decidedly uncool. 

See, Aunt May had been taking the night shifts at work recently, which meant Peter was able to roam a little more freely on the weekends. But after he’d broken both his parental figures' trust by taking his suit out for a joyride past his curfew one night that all changed; of course May didn’t know what he was doing, but she had caught him sneaking up the fire escape early the next morning. Thank god he’d had the forethought to change back into his normal clothes before he did so, or it would’ve been an even more dramatic intervention than what was already held in his honour. Since that night he’d been forced to spend every weekend either at the tower or at the Leeds’; neither of which he minded. However this weekend had been different, May and Tony had finally said he could stay home alone; since Tony had been really busy with a secret project that Peter wasn’t allowed to be a part of and every Sunday night he spent with Ned he ended up exhausted for school the next day after the pair had stayed up all night playing video games. 

So what did he do with his new bit of freedom? He abused it. He hadn’t  _ intended to _ \- at least not at first. It was the first time that they were trusting him to stay by himself in ages! He had so many things he wanted to  _ do,  _ most of which he couldn’t do with responsible eyes watching him- but he  _ tried  _ to be good...at first. The first night he’d spent doing his homework, chores and taking himself to bed at a responsible time but after spending all of Saturday by himself he was just  _ itching  _ to do something a little more stimulating. Sure he could’ve spent one night at Ned’s or gone and hung out with Thor or someone at the tower but no. Peter wanted to indulge in another extra curricular activity. 

It was  _ just  _ a test run for the new stabilisers he’d put on his web shooters- he didn’t mean to stay out late! He’d promised himself it would just be a quick venture, leave at ten be back and in bed by eleven. Just to test them out. But a few baddies here and there and it was one by the time he rolled into his apartment.  _ Oops _ . Thank god his man in the chair had disabled the curfew alarm on his suit or Mr. Stark would’ve killed him- he could’ve double killed him if he realised Peter was still using his old suit suit that he swore to only use for emergencies. His current suit had been confiscated right when the whole weekends alone ban was put in place. But he should be fine, Ned had messed with the locks on it, Tony shouldn’t have been notified when he went out; in fact Peter knew he hadn’t or when he got home Tony would’ve been there to give him a talking to. Nope he was out of the woods for now. He just hoped he’d managed to avoid the surveillance team Tony had watching him 24/7 during his little late night escapades. 

Still, he thought, one o’clock wasn’t _too_ bad. He’d certainly gotten home far later and in far worse physical condition before. He still had plenty of time to shower and get to bed before May was due home; so that’s what he’d planned on doing. What he hadn’t planned on however, was the woman startling him in the middle of his usual routine of singing and dancing whilst he was taking said shower. 

Despite his Spidey-Senses and his super hearing, Peter hadn’t heard the front door open, nor did he hear his aunt calling out asking just what the hell he thought he was doing listening to Dolly Parton that loudly at that time of night. He only heard when the woman knocked on the door which ultimately led to one of the most embarrassing nights of his short life. 

“Peter?” May called, hearing ‘9 to 5’ blaring as well as her nephew scream singing as soon as she stepped over the threshold to their apartment; two hours earlier than she was meant to arrive. She noted the noise as well as light was streaming out from under the bathroom door and when she stepped closer she could hear the shower running. She scowled, there would only be two reasons Peter was showering in the middle of the night, and she narrowed it down pretty quickly; had it been the result of a nightmare he would not be in the mood for singing. So her nephew had decided it was okay to go out  _ ‘running’  _ in the middle of the night,  _ again  _ despite only being  _ fifteen?  _

Yeah, colour May pissed. 

“They let you dream just to watch ‘em shatter,

You’re just a step on the boss man’s ladder-

But you’ve got dreams he’ll never take aw-ayy~”

_ “Peter Benjamin Parker!”  _

“In the same boat as a- AHH! May what the he-“ Before Peter could continue enquiring just why his aunt was home so early, he made a slight error. As he jumped out of shock and his feet slipped out from under him, instead of grabbing the metal handrail designed for that very purpose, he elected to grab the fabric curtain instead. This resulted in a very loud crash as all of the boy's weight came toppling down onto his left ankle- and the curtain rail to crash down onto his head. “Ow- f-ahh! _Fuck!”_

Even though she’d just been planning to murder him, May instantly recognised Peter’s tone as one of pain as opposed to fear. “Are you okay?!”

“I- mmm- fah _ ahh- _ no I’m not okay!” Peter managed to yell back between cries of pain. It didn’t take him a second to realise that he’d broken his ankle; when he slipped he’d heard a harsh crackling snap as he went down, followed by a sharp stabbing pain. As soon as he moved to pick himself off of the bathtub floor he felt it; that familiar rush of searing heat around the affected limb. He’d felt it many times, before but especially since becoming a vigilante. He didn’t even need to look at his leg to know that his foot was facing a different way than it should have been. 

But he didn’t panic. He’d been trained for this- well, his training had been for the battlefield not the bathroom, but all the same he knew not to panic. Even as the pain induced dizziness set in. He didn’t fail to notice as he tried to slide himself up that his head was throbbing around where the metal rod had smacked him. “Why would you-  _ shhh- _ ow ow ow- why would you do that?!”

“I didn’t mean to- did you fall?!” May called back frantically, feeling remorse gush over her even though she felt justified in her fury only moments before. 

“Yes I fell!” Peter screamed incredulously. No May, he just decided to throw himself on the floor  _ on purpose.  _

The doorknob jiggled by Peter quickly slung a web across the room to seal the previously unlocked door; which only aided in making his aunt even more upset. “Peter Parker we do not lock doors in this house!” 

“I’m  _ naked!”  _ Peter cried shrilly, though that wasn’t his first concern. Of course, being a teenager having his female aunt see him undressed was less than ideal, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. She’d raised him for Christ’s sake. He was more concerned about concealing the evidence of his injury. If May saw the state of him and then saw how quickly he recovered..they’d be in for it. He’d only narrowly managed to avoid her seeing his injuries before thanks to Mr. Stark. 

“I’ve seen it all before!” May rolled her eyes and continued to jiggle the door. 

“Yeah when I was five you weirdo!” Peter called back, trying desperately to pull himself up but his hands were still slicked with water and spiders aren’t known for their ability to crawl out of a bathtub. He managed to pull himself up about halfway to turn the water off before he slipped, accidentally bearing weight on the wrong leg causing him to let out a muffled scream. “Wait a second! W-will you stop I-  _ ahh!”  _

“Peter!” Okay now May knew he was  _ really hurt.  _ Peter never made a fuss about hurting himself, even when he was a little kid; for him to be hissing and cursing like that it must be serious. “Are you alright?!” 

“I’m okay I’m just-“ Once he recovered enough for his breathing to return to normal, Peter managed to answer. He’d been squeezing his eyes shut as he waited for the waves of agony rippling through his calf to slow slightly, or at least decrease in intensity, breathing steadily through the pain. When the pain ebbed in his leg, he noticed another sensation that he found..odd. He felt wet heat rushing down the back of his neck, which wasn’t odd in and of itself but he’d just turned the shower off..

He opened his eyes and glanced down only to see the bottom of the tub stained red as well as pink splatters dripping down the tiled walls. Okay, now he was freaking out. “U-uuh M-m-May?” 

“What's wrong?” As if she wasn’t panicked enough the way Peter’s voice wavered made her blood run cold. But the boy didn’t answer right away. “Peter what’s wrong?”

“I- I think I’m bleeding.” He stammered quietly, almost robotically as he watched the crimson liquid mix with the water, swirling together as it circled the drain. He hadn’t meant to say that outloud but..but he wasn’t the best with blood. Through everything he’d seen and been through- bruises, broken bones, bullets and all- blood was his weakness. He couldn’t stomach it, he’d never been able to stomach it- pain didn’t bother him, but the blood- the smell of it, the sight of it, even just the texture on his skin, how it congealed and dried to that sticky flakey crust that just wouldn’t come off of him- staining him- he couldn’t do it. Every time he saw it he got lightheaded and-

Oh fuck he was going to pass out. 

“Baby open the door.” May spoke calmly, or as calmly as she could, through the slight gap in the door. 

May. 

He couldn’t- he couldn’t pass out. May was there she was freaking out and- oh for god’s sake  _ he was naked.  _ That would look just great wouldn’t it? Someone having to break the door down, finding a naked fifteen year old who had somehow made a spider's web strong enough to glue the door shut- listening to Dolly fucking Parton. That was not Spider-Man worthy- hell, that was lame even for Peter Parker. Okay first things first, get out of the tub and get un-naked. 

“H-hold on.” Peter managed to struggle out. His voice was stronger than before but it was still hitting that nervous lilt that let May know even from the other side of the door that it was bad. 

“Peter-“

“I’m okay- I’m alright- j-just hold on I’m tryna-  _ hsss-  _ I’m tryna get up.” Peter hissed. He managed to dry his hands on a discarded towel nearby, giving him enough grip strength to push himself up and over the confines of the tub. 

May didn’t have any other option but to relent. She knew rushing him was only likely to end in more injury so despite how desperate she was to get in there, she allowed Peter a moment to collect himself before she cowboy kicked the door down. “Is anything broken?” 

As he slid down the side of the bathtub onto the floor, Peter gingerly felt the back of his head; or at least he went to but he pulled his hand away at the last minute. “Uh y-yeah I pulled the shower rail down and I think I cracked the tile-“

“Not the bathroom- I meant  _ you!”  _

“Oh uh- I-I’m not sure.” The way he phrased it came across so unconvincingly, as though he was asking himself a question as to whether or not he was going to try and lie his way out of this one. There was no way once he opened that door that May wasn’t going to immediately know his ankle was broken. 

He chanced a glance down at his ankle, seeing how swollen it had become and how the skin was already turning mottled shades of purple and brown. Yep. Definitely not just a sprain- how was he going to get out of this? 

The dripping sensation down the back of his neck had slowed, but not stopped completely; and considering his healing factor Peter knew that was a bad sign. A small superficial cut would’ve completely fused shut by then, but he still felt a steady trickle running down his back and onto the side of the bath; where it continued to drip and pool on the floor. He lent his hand back onto the tiles in an attempt to gain some leverage to help himself up, but once again he felt himself slipping; this time not on water but in blood. 

Taking a deep breath and being mindful that his aunt was still anxiously waiting outside the door, Peter attempted to bide himself some more time. “Can you grab me my robe p-p-please?”

“Can you open the door first?” May practically begged and Peter could see her shadow pacing underneath the door. 

“I’m working on it. Please May?” Peter sighed slightly. The dizziness and nausea from the pain combined with the smell of iron permeating the air was starting to weigh heavily on him; he couldn’t bring himself to articulate a more convincing request. He had clothes with him that he was about to attempt to change into, but he wanted to assess the damage to his head first. He’d accepted that his ankle was a lost cause- but if the cut on his head wasn’t too bad maybe he could buy enough time for it to heal up (and for him to wash away the blood) before he opened the door; and hopefully hide his healing abilities from his aunt's keen eyes. He knew it was a long shot but he could feel panic setting in and he knew as soon as his aunt heard him hyperventilating she was going to bust the door down, webbing or none. 

“Alright okay- okay, I’ll be right back okay? If you can’t get up don’t try to by yourself.” 

“Yeah. O-okay.” Peter called weakly, waiting for the woman’s footsteps to retreat before he went to touch his head again. This time he forced his shaking hands to make a connection with his scalp, biting down a gag as he did so. As soon as his fingertips brushed over the wound sight he knew he had no chance of waiting for it to heal before he let May in. He was going to need stitches. Right on the crown of his head spanning towards the base of his skull was a fat split in his scalp. He could feel where his hair parted at least three inches to make way for the seeping flesh beneath it and for a sickening, sickening second, Peter accidentally grazed the crevice with his finger tip; the digit slipping down into the casim and he could’ve sworn he felt something hard and unyielding underneath. He was touching his skull. 

When the realisation hit him he felt a rush of water in his mouth as well as the taste of bile and Oreos before he swallowed back hard. He was severely regretting his choice of late night snack. 

Peter didn’t have much time to process because no sooner had he managed to wrap himself in a towel May was back knocking frantically on the door. “Petey are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m- no not really.” Peter swallowed honestly. He wanted to pretend he was fine, but it was useless at this point, he wasn’t fine and he wished he’d never webbed the door in the first place. As much as he tried to stay in that calm, stoic, Superhero mindset and think practically, he was flooded with emotion. He wanted May to swoop in, cuddle him, stick a bandaid on his head and ankle and kiss it better so he could go to bed. But that wasn’t about to happen, he was about to spend the early hours of Sunday morning in hospital trying to convince doctors that they’d got their X-rays mixed up when they realised Peter’s ankle was magically healing 64 times faster than an average human’s. May was gonna find out he was a freak and he wasn’t ready for that- and he was in pain and he felt sick and there was- god there was blood  _ everywhere  _ and he just wanted Mr. Stark to come and save him. 

Mr. Stark. He had to ring Tony. Or well, rather May did because Peter didn’t trust his voice not to betray him right now. 

But before that could happen he had to open the door and let his anxious aunt in. Peter managed to butt-scoot himself over to the door and reach up just high enough to pull down the webbing he had sealed it with (whilst fumbling with the lock to feign unlocking it of course, the noise was enough to trick her) and he let the door slowly swing open. Luckily May gave him a few seconds to get out of the way of the door before she swung it open full force and rushed down onto the floor beside him. 

“Oh fuck.” She muttered under her breath as soon as she clocked eyes on him. As though Peter didn’t already realise, but for May to be cursing it must’ve been really bad. “Oh fuck, Peter-“

“I know, it’s bad.” Peter found himself whimpering. As soon as he saw his aunt it was like his body went into shut down mode; a responsible adult was there to be in charge of his care, the weight of having to deal with the problem was no longer his solely to bear so subconsciously he allowed himself to freak out. He went from being a strong independent young man to a very scared little boy in about 3.5 seconds. 

Hearing his voice start to break helped May to calm herself down, her demeanor shifting to take over the role Peter had previously been pursuing. “It’s okay, you’re okay honey you’re going to be okay- where’s the blood coming from? Did you hit your head?” 

Peter managed to gesture to the back of his head and May gently pushed his head forward so she could take a closer look. Grimacing she saw exactly what Peter had felt; a deep cut going straight through the grainy, fatty layer of his scalp exposing peeks of the yellowish white bone beneath, still steadily spewing out blood. She tilted his head a little more to get a better look but retreated when the boy began hissing in pain again. 

“Oo Oo Oo- okay.” She hissed sympathetically, gently removing her hands and sitting back on her heels. “Right okay, let’s- let’s right and get you dressed yeah? Then we can go from there.” 

“O-okay.” Peter said in a small voice. He found himself sniffling despite himself; he wasn’t sure if it was purely from the pain or from the humiliation of the entire situation. The fact that Dolly Parton's greatest hits album was still playing softly in the background of the scene certainly did nothing to quell the shame that was steadily building in his chest. 

They managed to shimmy Peter into his underwear, with great difficulty; because Peter refused to let his aunt bear his weight long enough to lift himself fully off the ground despite the woman proclaiming herself strong enough to do so. He was too conscious of hurting her even though he was the one currently in a state of disrepair. Once the most important parts of him were covered they tried again to lift him up, but May didn’t even manage to get Peter onto the toilet seat before he pulled himself out of her grip again and slammed himself back down onto the floor- and onto his bad leg. 

“Ow! Shihihit!” He cried out, unable to stop himself from doing so after applying too much pressure on the limb for the  _ third time.  _ It was getting too much, the pain was getting worse, his entire leg felt as though it was expanding; skin stretching to impossible proportions, making it taught and hot under his grasp when he desperately grabbed it to try and stop the pain. He ended up curled in a ball crying silently and flinching when May tried to touch him. “Don’t!” 

Rather than get offended by the boy's sensitivity, May pulled back and tried to think practically. “Okay this isn’t going to work. I’m going to call Donna-“

“No!” Peter snapped. He couldn’t have Ned’s mom over there, she was a nurse for crying out loud. She’d notice his accelerated healing within a second. 

“What do you mean no Peter- you’ve snapped your friggin’ leg! I can’t carry you down to the car like this!” She yelled exasperatedly. She didn't mean to lose her temper with him but he was hurt and she was panicking- and she felt so  _ useless.  _ Long gone were the days where she could comfortably balance Peter on her hip, she had no hope of single handedly carrying the boy anywhere; not that he’d let her if she could. He wouldn’t even let her hold his weight long enough to get him off of the floor so there he was sat, soaking wet and half naked, covered in blood and she didn’t know what else to do. 

“I don’t- can you- just call Mr. Stark!” Peter stammered out, still clutching his leg. Once again he found himself unable to verbalise his thoughts and reasoning; all his mind was screaming was ‘ow- need Mr. Stark- ow- no hospital’, which really wasn’t reflective of what he wanted to say. 

May shook her head incredulously at her nephew and started to wonder if his head injury was more than just a cut. “Peter’s it’s two in the morning- Tony’s an hour away!” 

“Just  _ call him!” _ Peter sniffed. Couldn’t May tell when he was being serious? He couldn’t talk right now woman! He managed to force his mouth to cooperate for just five more words that he hoped would give May enough of a reason to call  _ him  _ instead of Mrs. Leeds- or god forbid an ambulance. “I’m on his insurance remember?” 

May brought her hand to her mouth to bite her nails anxiously as she was forced to make a decision. Donna was only five minutes away but all she could do was initial first aid before they went to the hospital- but honestly that was enough because by the looks of it Peter required some  _ immediate _ first aid. But then again, Tony would no doubt pull some strings and get Peter seen by a private healthcare team with the snap of his fingers. The man new first aid too obviously given his profession and though she felt ashamed for even thinking about it- there was no way she could afford a trip to the ER right now. She knew that shouldn't have even crossed her mind but when you're trying to stay afloat, single handedly raising a teenager on a minimum pay salary in a New York apartment- you can't help but consider the financial implications. 

“May please- please don’t call Donna I don’ wanna- mmrgh I don’t wanna-“ Peter started to beg but part way through his sentence he started slurring and leaning lazily against the sink; the pain threatening to force him unconscious again. 

“Peter- Peter honey, look at me.” May crouched down and grabbed the boy's face forcing him to look at her. “Don’t fall asleep, okay?” 

“Mnot-not I’m fine really- jus’ just please call T-Tony.” Peter muttered as he sat himself up. In truth the dizziness was reaching newfound heights and he could feel his body trying to pull him into unconsciousness. It was as though gravity was extra strong around him, pushing his head down and forcing his eyes to shut. But he fought through it, the only thing keeping him awake, keeping him from giving in to the sweet, blissfully painless sleep he was being lulled into was May’s scared expression. He longed to fall asleep so he could skip over the whole ordeal; wake up in a few hours having had someone else deal with the mess he’d made- but that wasn’t fair and it wa so retry obvious May was freaking out. 

“Okay- okay I’ll call him.” She said rushedly, though she did set about getting a clean towel and some warm water, and having Peter apply pressure to his head before she did so. 

  
  


Miles away in Manhattan, Tony hadn’t long settled to sleep before he was being abruptly awoken by his phone ringing. Though it woke him up he didn’t initially react; he was rather well versed in sleeping through alarms and ignoring external stimuli in favour of sleeping for just a little bit longer- but his future wife wasn’t quite as used to it. 

“Mm..babe, phone.” She groaned, reaching around to slap the man beside her. 

“Mm, yeah, phone.” Tony mumbled into his pillow with a small sigh, content to ignore the buzzing until it faded away. Though it did occur to him in the distant recesses of his mind that if someone was calling him that late at night it must be important- he also knew if it was  _ that  _ important they’d find a way to contact him eventually. With that in mind he nuzzled a little deeper into the sheets, bringing them up around his ears to further drown out the noise the device was making. 

Pepper was only more irritated by this, sighing and sitting up to fully shake the man. Then she said something that jogged Tony's memory. “I thought you turned that thing off.”

“I did. You know I always turn my work phone o-“ Tony sat up with a start. He always turned his work phone off before he went to bed, but not his personal phone, not his  _ Peter phone.  _

Within two seconds he was fully sitting upright, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed as he reached for the phone on the nightstand. He was hoping to see Peter’s caller ID, at least that was somewhat familiar. He was accustomed to the kid calling him after a nightmare- sure that’s what it was, that’s what it would be, it wouldn’t be anything bad. The kid wasn’t even on patrol that night he’d be fine-

It wasn’t Peter. It was May calling. Fuck. 

“Hello?” Tony answered, trying his best to keep the panic out of his voice as he stood up. 

“Hi Tony, it’s May.” The woman stated unnecessarily, but Tony wasn’t concerned about the formal introduction she always gave. He was concerned with the tone of voice she was greeting him in. 

Tony was already standing up as he allowed the woman to continue, flipping on the light and sparing a glance towards his fiancé who was staring at him with a confused bleary look on her face. He didn’t offer her any kind of response, he just waited for May’s. “What’s wrong?”

“Peter’s had an accident.” May stated bluntly, and Tony could hear how uneven her breaths were. 

His eyes widened and he looked back at Pepper, who was sitting up now with a concerned frown that mirrored his own. “What kind of accident?” 

“He fell in the shower, hit his head and I think his leg is broken.” 

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Tony said calmly, already pulling his pants on and shoving his keys and wallet in his pocket. 

“I’m sorry to call you so late but he wouldn’t stop asking for you-“ 

“May, don’t apologise.” Tony said flippantly. Of course the kid wanted him, he was probably freaking the fuck out thinking everyone was going to find out about his powers. Tony and his team were the only ones who were safe when it came to handling Peter's medical care, the kid was just following orders. 

Besides, Tony couldn’t help but feel abhorrently guilty, as though this was his fault. He was meant to be watching the kid- yes he’d had that secret project, that was real; real dangerous, Peter couldn’t have come over while that was going on, but Tony had packed up with that earlier that morning. Whilst he’d been working on it he’d not only had to forgo seeing Peter but he’d neglected his girlfriend in that time too. He’d spent the evening making that up to her with a night of Stark style debauchery- He figured the kid would be fine just one more weekend without supervision but apparently not. ‘And this is what happens when you’re selfish Tony.’

So no, he wasn’t about to complain about having to come and sort his kid out. “I’ll be right there.”

True to his word Tony made the fifty minute journey in just under twenty and for once May wasn’t about to comment on how those numbers made the man look. She could chastise him about speeding at a later date but as of right now she was more concerned about getting her nephew sewn back together. She left the apartment door open and Tony came strolling in with only a small yell of announcement before he walked into the bathroom. 

“What’ve you done now?” He sighed almost tiredly as he rounded the corner; only to see an alarming amount of blood, a half naked intern and a frantic looking lady. Of course he was panicking internally too but hey, he needed to at least  _ pretend  _ he wasn’t worried, right? If not to keep up his image but to stop the two Parker’s from panicking. He was setting the tone here. 

“Hi Mr. Stark.” Peter smiled sheepishly up at his mentor; feeling embarrassment flush through him again when he realised for the second time that evening just how ridiculously unheroic his situation was. He was grateful his aunt had the forethought to switch his speaker off before the man arrived though; the last thing he needed was Tony mocking him on his music tastes on top of everything else.

“Sup kid.” Tony said as he crouched down beside Peter, where the boy was wedged between the toilet and the sink. The kid was wearing nothing but his boxers and a bloodied towel turban that he was pressing to his head like his life depended on it. “What happened?”

“I slipped in the shower.” Peter mumbled a little drunkenly, making Tony worried about the state of his head. The kid had dark circles developing under his eyes indicative of a concussion but that would have to be dealt with once he got him back to the tower. 

“Yeah? And what were you doing in the shower at this time of night?” Tony asked as he looped his arms under Peter’s and hoisted the boy up without so much as a noise of exertion. He was getting rather accustomed to picking the teen up after he’d fucked himself up doing something stupid, and that night was no different. He was just glad the kid was on the small side or his back would be protesting. 

He set Peter down on the toilet where the boy gave him another sheepish grin, this time looking between his mentor and his aunt; both of which were looking at him sternly. “Uhh..I uh..I was Uhm-“

“Yes Peter, what were you doing in the shower at one o'clock in the morning?” May asked, sucking her cheek, crossing her arms and tapping her foot; all telltale signs he was in for it as soon as he was better. She waited for his answer and when she didn’t receive one she pointed in the direction of his bedroom. “I know for a fact those are the same sheets you had on last night so that ain’t it-“

_ “May!”  _ Peter hissed indignantly, blood rushing to his cheeks as opposed to out of the back of his head. 

Tony decided to spare the kid some embarrassment for once and elected not to comment on the bedding situation; instead addressing the kids head first and foremost. “Can I take a look?” 

The man automatically went to reach for the improvised wrappings, expecting a positive response but Peter flinched away and gave him a wide eyed look; shaking his head slightly. Before Tony could ask what was wrong Peter gave him a silent answer, glancing back and forth to his aunt a few times. Ah. 

“May, have you got a first aid kit?” Tony asked glancing back up at the woman hovering in the doorway. Tony's eyes traveled down to the floor where Peter’s clothes were soaked in water and blood. “And can we maybe get him some pants?” 

“Yeah, two seconds. I probably should’ve grabbed that before you got here- I’ll go get it.” She hummed before helpfully scurrying off. 

As soon as the woman was out of sight Tony turned his attention back to Peter, this time staring at him angrily. “Right, now that she’s gone, what did you do?”

Peter blinked innocently. “What? I- nothing!” 

“Nothing? Spider-Man doesn’t snap his ankle and crack his head open doing nothing.” The man shook his head. 

“No I- I wasn’t doing Spidey stuff I swear!” 

“Then what were you doing in the shower so late?”

Peter sighed before giving in, ducking his head guiltily. “Okay..okay I was testing out my new shooters-“

_ “Peter-“ _

“But that’s not how I got hurt! Really it’s not! I-I was home by one and I got something to eat and then I was about to go to bed- I promise!” Peter said in one big rush, before he realised he neglected to mention how he hurt himself. “I really did slip in the shower. I was listening to music and May spooked me and I- I just fell.”

“Okay. I believe you.” Tony sighed. Peter was good at a lot of things but lying was not one of them. That didn’t explain to Tony however the extent of the boy’s injuries. Sure, his head getting cut he could understand, even Steve would get hurt if someone bashed him over the head with an angular metal bar- but Tony didn’t understand how Peter had broken his ankle that severely by simply slipping. Peter’s mutation gave him a much higher bone density, for him to suddenly sustain a broken bone in such a mundane way worried Tony. He’d seen Peter get thrown around like a frisbee without so much as a scratch- both with and without the suit. His kid was meant to be invincible, he shouldn’t have to worry about the lack of a bath mat finishing him off- not when they already had a myriad of other dangers lurking around every corner. 

“Mr. Stark, what’re we gonna do?” Peter lowered his voice, and went to lean a little closer to Tony, but ended up falling forward as his balance failed him. He steadied himself by leaning on the man’s shoulders, which Tony didn’t protest despite proclaiming to detest human contact. “May’s gonna see my head’s healing up too fast and my ankles already less swollen than it was.” 

“Don’t worry, I got you.” Tony said easily. Whereas his protégé was lacking in the lying department, Tony was fluent in fakery. “Let me handle it, but first will you lemme see your head?” 

Peter nodded very slowly this time, allowing Tony to reach up and peel back the towel- literally peel. The blood had begun to dry and was sticking the layers of fabric together as well as cementing it to the boy’s hair. Though Peter was being patient and Tony was being as gentle as he possibly could, he ended up hissing and grabbing the man’s wrists to get him to stop. 

“Sorry- I- sorry.” Peter grimaced, letting go of the man’s wrists and scrunching his face up. He braced himself by gripping the toilet seat waiting for Tony to continue tugging at the towel. 

But Tony shook his head. “No bud. It’s okay if it hurts I can stop-“

“No go on. I can take it.” Peter said adamantly, trying his best to be a good little soldier though it was painfully obvious he was on the verge of tears. It wasn’t even the pain that was getting to him now, it was the smell of the blood that was growing ever stronger with each layer Tony peeled back. 

As much as Tony wanted to say fuck it and leave the boy alone, he knew he had to assess how bad the wound was; how much it had healed and whether he’d be able to glue it himself or if he’d need to wake Bruce up to handle it. Though in fairness he knew he’d need Bruce to help him with the kid’s ankle anyway, he wanted to get Peter’s head taken care of to save them a job down the line- and most of all get the boy comfortable as quickly as possible. “Okay, but if it gets too much, you tell me, okay?” 

Peter gave the tiniest nod then resumed his mantra of deep breathing through his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. Eventually Tony got through to the boy’s scalp and even the seasoned superhero couldn’t help but wince. 

“Ouch, kid.” Tony cringed. It was a stupidly obvious observation, and Tony tended not to speak unless it was necessary, but god he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. The cut was worse than he’d imagined and he didn’t even want to think about how bad it must’ve been initially. It was clear that it had already started to heal; rather than clean jagged edges, the flesh around the opening of the wound had started to round off into smooth, fresh, pink skin and the bleeding had started to stop. It was trickling with newfound vigor where Tony had pulled away some of the scabbing but that didn’t concern him, what concerned him was how deep it was. Even with Peter healing abilities his body couldn’t fill in giant cracks in his tissue. If they left it he would end up healing with a divot in his head as well as a partially exposed skull if it wasn’t sutured properly. No chance of using a little glue and some steristrps then. 

Tony sighed. “Okay, I’m gonna patch you up as best I can but Dr. Green is gonna have to take over when we get home okay?”

Peter nodded but another voice joined the conversation. “You mean you’re not taking him to a hospital?” 

Tony stood up from where he was crouched to give May a confident smile. “No need. We’ve got all the stuff to take care of minor injuries back at the tower and it’ll be quicker than getting him seen at a hospital. Bruce can manage some stitches and a cast.” 

May didn’t seem convinced at first so Tony continued. “Besides, I think Peter might be a little more comfortable with people he knows.” Tony lowered his voice slightly, for show of course, he knew Peter could hear him just as well but he was playing into the illusion. “He’s gonna have a nasty concussion, he might get a little, you know,  _ emotional.”  _

May pressed her lips into a thin line before nodding, knowing full well what Tony meant. “Right okay, we taking your car or mine?” 

Tony and Peter’s eyes widened slightly but it was the boy who spoke first. “Uhh, May don’t you have work tomorrow?” 

“Your point?” She turned sassily to give him a pointed look. Like she wasn’t going to accompany him to seek medical treatment. “You don’t get a say in this Peter not after you were sneaking out again.”

“But I wasn’t-“

“Save it, buster. I’ll deal with you after you’re fixed up.” She said seriously, and though her tone wouldn’t have been threatening to anyone else Peter cowered slightly and nodded. Tony couldn’t help but smirk at just how well trained she had him before he stepped out to give Bruce the heads up about their incoming patient. 

When he came back he set about putting May’s rudimentary first aid kit to use; he packed the wound on Peter’s head with gauze and gave him a very fashionable bandage headband- but there wasn’t much he could do for the boy’s ankle other than elevate it (and keep it covered lest the boy’s aunt notice it’s constantly changing hue). That became an issue when they were getting ready to leave. 

“Uhm, guys?” Peter said quietly after a moment. He was getting a little delirious but he still knew there was a certain something everyone seemed to have forgotten. “I need clothes.” 

“Yes you do.” Tony nodded. “May you wanna grab his stuff and I’ll get him situated?”

“If you’re comfortable with that..?” May asked the both of them, Peter nodding just a little too fervently and almost slipping off of the toilet lid; Tony having to dive to catch him. “Okay, yell if you need me.”

Starting with a T-shirt was an obvious first step- or at least it would have been had Peter not had a gaping great hole in his head. Instead they went for the easier option, a zip up hoodie and other than Peter complaining about the zipper being cold it was a pretty easy process; they even managed to bundle an emergency towel in the boys hood to stop any blood leakage and minimise the chance of Peter smacking his head a second time- which happened pretty often anyway so it was good to air on the side of caution. 

The issue arose however when they had to get him into pants. Getting one leg into his sweatpants was fine, but getting his swollen ankle through the cuffed pants leg was another story- mostly because Peter was refusing to cooperate. 

“Mm- no no no,  _ hss _ , no no no- stop  _ stop.”  _ Peter hissed, grabbing onto the counter. He was still sitting down at this point, as they had tried standing him up to see if that would make the job easier but gravity had only made his ankle throb violently; which led to him almost throwing up and passing out. So they were back to having Peter sitting on the toilet with one leg of his pants around his ankles whilst Tony crouched in front of him. Yeah it was a weird moment for both of them. 

“Pete, I know it hurts, just let me get it past your calf.” Tony sighed. He was trying his best to keep his patience, he really was but he was tired and stressed and he wanted to get the kid dressed so they could  _ go.  _ It was going to be a task and a half getting him down the flights of stairs to the car; putting pants on was meant to be the easy part. 

“I’m sorry- I know I’m- I’m sorry.” Peter stammered. He was trying to power through; he didn’t want to be a baby about it but it  _ hurt.  _ Everytime Tony so much as brushed against his skin it felt like a thousand needles slicing into every nerve and it made him want to scream. The man was pulling the cuff as wide as it would go, but the fabric would still cling to his ankle before he had the chance to slide it up. Whichever way he tried to do it, at some point it felt like someone was gripping his sore leg and squeezing it. 

“It’s fine, stop apologising.” Tony sighed again, though he tried to refrain from doing so. “Look, if it wasn’t the middle of winter I’d be happy for you to go out there in just your underwear but-“

“No, not if we’re going to the tower I don’t want anyone else seeing me naked.” Peter said quickly, his face reddening. “Look just do it, if it hurts it hurts, I’ll live.” 

“Peter I’m not-“

“Tony  _ just do it.” _ Peter growled, gripping the side of the toilet so hard that Tony heard a slight crunching sound; he gave in because he wouldn't be able to explain a broken toilet seat to May all that easily. 

“Right okay, want me to count down or..?” Tony asked and Peter gave him a look that he’d learned from his mentor. It was like looking in a baby faced mirror. “Okay. Stay still.” 

With that Tony quickly grabbed the boy’s foot to steady it and slipped the pants leg up and over the boy's calf as quickly as he could, bunching it up just below his knee. In order to stop himself from screaming, after slapping the countertop with enough force to crack it, Peter bit down on his sleeve as hard as he could with only a muffled yell. _ “Mmrf!”  _

Cringing Tony watched all the colour drain from the boy's face until his skin tone was bordering on a deathly grey, only to watch his angry purple ankle and foot go from pink to tinting blue. Hmm. That didn’t seem good. But Peter didn’t pass out so Tony took that as a good sign. “You okay?”

Peter kept his mouth clenched shut, along with his eyes and he only communicated through heavy breathing through his nose and muffled grunts. “Mhm.” 

“You gonna get sick?” 

“Mm-mm.” Peter managed to shake his head, before slumping forward to lean his forehead on Tony’s shoulder. He stayed still for a minute waiting for the room to stop spinning and the black dots behind his eyes to disappear before lifting his head to give the man an apologetic look. But Tony didn’t seem phased by the invasion of personal space, in fact he welcomed it, going as far to rub the boy’s back for a moment before he stood up, bringing Peter back to an upright position with him. 

Once Peter was fully dressed, shoe on one foot and a fluffy sock on the other, Tony and May were tasked with getting the boy out of the apartment and down the steps. They settled on having May in front of them as they descended down the stairs, ready to help hold Peter’s leg up should he slip; whilst the teen held onto the handrail and Tony supported his other side. They managed about a floor at a time having to stop for a few minutes between each flight, but on the last few sets of steps Tony got tired of the back and forth and just hoisted the boy up half over his shoulder. 

They poured Peter into the backseat, where May joined him, and Tony lowered the passenger seat all the way down so it folded in half; and they used it as a makeshift stool for Peter to elevate his leg on. By this point the boy had fallen almost completely silent, only letting out a few quiet groans here and there. May and Tony tried to coax him into conversation if only to assess his concussion and keep him conscious. Tony, being first aid trained, knew all the typical questions to ask; what day is it? Who’s the current president? When’s your birthday? All of which Peter was accustomed, though the man also threw some curveball questions in there too, that May had no chance of knowing but Peter still managed to get them right; What’s the best non conductive isolator to use when constructing microcapacitors? What mark of coils did they use in their most recent science project- the Van De Graaff generator? How many sugars does Steve take in his coffee?

“Steve doesn’t drink coffee, says it’s bad for him.” Peter mumbled. He was glad that his mental capacity seemed to be okay but that didn’t make opening his mouth any easier. Not only did he feel like he was no longer in control of his tongue but he was super self aware that he was very liable to succumb to his nausea at some point that evening; and he’d prefer if it wasn’t whilst they were in the confines of the vehicle. 

There was another concern Peter had though regarding bodily functions that had yet to be addressed or even mentioned and he knew it was a bad time. 

Though he’d tried to remain calm throughout the whole ordeal internally Tony was freaking out wondering how they were going to hide Peter’s accelerated healing from May. It was so obviously a bread- a  _ bad  _ break. It wasn’t not like he could get Bruce to convince her it was merely a hairline fracture or a sprain, the kid's foot was rotated at a 130 degree angle. It was too high up his shin to claim it was a dislocated ankle too. Of course, they could let her know that it was broken, but that would mean Peter would be forced to pretend his ankle was broken for  _ weeks  _ when in reality it would only take a few days to heal at most. That being said, it didn’t mean Peter still didn’t need a lot of treatment. He knew by now the bone had probably already set in his new position, it could even take an operation to repair the damage. Fuck if Peter had to have an op there would be no way they could hide it from May. Fuck Tony, think think think. 

What didn’t help calm his anxieties was when the boy quietly piped up from the backseat. “Uhm..Tony?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Can we stop..?” Peter asked in an even quieter voice and Tony looked back at him in the rear view mirror. 

“You gonna hurl?” Tony asked and May’s eyes widened. She rapidly held up the designated sick bag they’d brought, looking extremely hesitant like Peter was threatening to puke on her right then and there. 

“No I need to go to the bathroom..” Peter mumbled shyly with a small grimace. “Like, bad.” 

“Kid, were almost there, can’t you wait twenty minutes?” Tony sighed. He felt mean even asking, he already knew the answer; but he was more concerned how the fuck was he meant to get Peter into a bathroom in his state? That didn’t seem like a good idea, at least at the tower they had decent disabled facilities, the same couldn’t be said for a New York gas station- let alone the kind of New York gas station that would be open at that time of morning. 

“You know I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t an emergency.” Peter whimpered looking slightly hurt but ultimately he just looked like a kid who really, really had to pee and it took everything Tony had not to groan. Great, this would be fun. Still, he knew he couldn’t complain, at least the kid had told him; and it was his own fault for rushing the boy out without asking him if he had to go first. 

“Right, okay, hold on.” Two minutes later they were in a gas stop but for a moment everyone just sat there frozen. Well other than Peter who was wiggling as much as his leg would allow. They were all wondering just how they were going to go about getting Peter inside the restroom, let alone him actually going without some kind of assistance. 

“Okay how are we gonna do this?” May asked, readying herself to hop out of the car but Tony beat her to it. 

“I’ve got him.” The man sighed as he exited the vehicle. It seemed most appropriate to have the fellow male accompany him into the restroom; though the same could be said for the boy's aunt considering she’d been around back when Peter needed taking to the bathroom the first time around. Still, holding Peter up was physically demanding and he doubted May would be able to get him there in the timely fashion he seemed to be so desperately craving. 

“I don’t need help to use the bathroom you guys.” Peter grumbled when Tony appeared on his side of the car; though he allowed the man to help him scoot himself around, using Tony's extended arm for leverage. 

“Well I hope not because I ain’t on diaper duty.” The man rolled his eyes. Only Peter would put up a fuss about receiving assistance when he’d literally broken his fucking leg. Then again maybe he got that from his mentor, boy was Tony getting a taste of his own medicine. “I’m gonna help you get to the toilet kid, I don’t plan on supervising you using it.” 

“Fine.” Peter huffed, knowing May and Tony wouldn’t let him go by himself. He was dizzy from the pain anyway and ultimately he knew he wouldn’t be able to hop quick enough to make it in time. In fact even with Tony practically carrying him they weren’t moving fast enough. “Tony can we hurry up, I  _ really _ gotta go.” 

“I’m trying my best here, I don’t want you breaking anything else.” Tony said but he attempted to speed up anyway. Every time Peter was forced to hop the kid’s face twisted in pain. He was torn between getting the action over quickly as not to prolong it or slowly to minimise the amount of movement the kid had to make. Tony opted with the former as every time he slowed down Peter whined and twisted his legs together, giving him a look that loosely translated to ‘if we don’t start moving I’m going to pee my pants’. 

Eventually Tony got Peter into the restroom, which was no easy feat. Luckily (or unluckily) they didn’t require a key to get into the multi stall room- and double luckily the room was empty and not completely filthy. Well, it was by no means clean but it certainly wasn’t the worst either of them had ever seen. That didn’t mean Peter wasn’t about to make the situation more difficult though. 

Looking from the urinals to the stalls Tony rubbed the back of his head awkwardly with his free hand. It wasn’t often that Tony found himself feeling awkward but this situation really took the cake. “Right how do you wanna-“

“Just prop me up.” Peter cut him off with an exasperated sigh, as though the answer was obvious. His plan would have been okay except the boy refused to lean himself against the stall wall and instead tried to balance on his good leg. 

“Peter you can’t stand without leaning on the wall.” Tony sighed, having to lurch forward to stop the boy from swaying dangerously. Had Peter just had an injured ankle he might have been able to handle the balancing act, but his head injury had completely thrown out his equilibrium causing him to teeter precariously as soon as Tony let go of him. 

Peter wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I’m  _ not _ touching that.” 

“Now is not the time to be a germaphobe.” The man said flatly. 

The teenager whipped his head around to scowl at his mentor over his shoulder. “Well I’m  _ sorry  _ my anxiety is inconvenient to you-“

“It’s not, what's inconvenient is you deciding to break your leg at two in the morning then wait until your tiny bladder is about to burst before you tell me.” Tony snapped, the stress of the situation getting to him. Not only was the boy at risk of falling anyway, he was continuously squirming as his bladder screamed at him, making it really difficult to keep him upright. The kid was literally wiggling out of his grasp and every moment they wasted arguing put Tony at a higher risk of dropping him.

“ _ Hey!”  _ Peter yelled, and he sounded  _ mad.  _ Very few things actually angered the kid but Tony had hit a well established nerve with that comment; but there wasn’t time to have a full argument about it. Not if Peter wanted to avoid watering the floor. “You think maybe this is why I don’t tell you stuff?! Don’t make fun of me!”

Tony knew when to back down so he held his hands up in a truce position- for about two seconds before he was forced to grab the kid again. “Okay okay, look can you just go already? Your leg is already set, we need to get you home.”

“If it’s already set you can wait a couple minutes while I- AH F—shhh, ah!” 

As Peter was trying to make his point his sneakered foot slipped out from under him on the wet linoleum; sending him hurtling forward and for a very, very scary second it looked as though Peter was about to have a face first encounter with the toilet bowl. Tony managed to grab him under the arms just in time but that didn’t stop Peter smacking his swollen ankle into the floor first. 

Once Peter had let out another cry of pain and a string of curse words that Tony chose to delete from his memory, the man pulled him right side up and started speaking a lot more sternly. “Right that’s it, sit down.”

Peter looked absolutely disgusted by the idea. “No! I’m not a girl!"

“I’m well aware of that but I know you won’t be able to go with me holding you up so you’re gonna have to sit down-“

“I don’t wanna touch anything with my hands let alone my butt!” 

“Ugh- fine piss your pants then, see if I care!” Tony snapped, his emotions getting the better of him despite his best efforts. “That’ll be fun for Bruce to work around then we’ll have to help you  _ shower too-“ _

“FINE! Just shut up!” Peter screamed. He wanted to push Tony away and cross his arms but he still needed the man’s help to lower himself down. 

Tony stood with the cubicle door partially closed only offering his arm through the gap in ways of assistance; and he prayed to god no one else decided to walk in right at that moment because what the hell did they look like?

Tony heard Peter sit down repeatedly muttering ‘ew ew ew ew’ to himself but not water on water. He waited a minute after fully shutting the door, in hopes the kid would start going but all he heard were increasingly frequent sniffles as the boy built himself up into a panic. “Can you run the faucet or something, please?” 

Tony knew better than to answer verbally, he just did as requested. As soon as he flipped one of the taps on Peter sighed and he could vaguely hear the sound of the kid peeing over the top of the rushing water. The man breathed a sigh of relief himself that he wasn’t going to have to try and deal with the aftermath of another kind of accident on top of everything else. 

Tony waited for the boy to re-emerge but after hearing the toilet flush there was nothing. Then he heard some shuffling followed by what sounded like a few failed attempts to get off the toilet before the kid slammed down on the seat again. “Ugh!”

“Need help?”

“Shut up!” Peter snapped, though the bite in his voice was gone and he sounded distinctly teary. 

Tony sighed quietly and softened his tone. “Pete. I’m not teasing. Do you need help?”

“Yes..” The boy whispered brokenly after a moment. “J-just don’t look okay? I can’t get my pants back up yet..”

“I won’t look, you tell me when.” Tony turned his back to the door and waited for Peter to open it. Once he did, the man made a show of covering his eyes with one hand so the kid wouldn’t get self conscious.“Ready?”

“Uh huh.” Peter sniffled. 

Tony kept his his eyes covered for as long as he could, holding out an arm for support. He did have to let go of his face and use both hands at one point when he felt the kids shoe skidding again. 

“Okay I’m good.” Peter muttered shyly once he was back vertical and he’d repositioned his clothing. Now that he’d relieved himself and was no longer in a compromised position he suddenly felt extremely guilty for his bad attitude. "I’m sorry about that..” 

“It’s okay.” Tony said flippantly, helping the kid shuffle over to the sinks to wash his hands. Tony propped him up and moved to wash his own hands too, even though he planned to douse them both in hand sanitizer when they got back to the car anyway. 

“I didn’t mean to yell at you.” Peter continued with a sheepish look on his face. 

“I didn’t mean to yell at you either kid.” Tony sighed, clapping a hand on the boys shoulder before he snaked his arm around his waist again to start walking. “And for the record I wouldn’t have let you pee your pants.” 

“For the record I’m glad you didn’t let me fall and break my other leg.” Peter huffed a laugh through his nose, though he grimaced as he was forced to start hopping again. 

Out of reflex Tony almost went to ruffle the kids hair but caught himself at the last second. Now  _ that  _ would’ve been a bad idea. “Yeah well, next time you decide to break a limb I’ll ask you if you need to piss  _ before  _ we leave the house.” 

That was when Peter realised the comments Tony had made about his bladder size that had caused him to start yelling in the first place; and his expression soured again. Before he could bring it up Tony walked him back out to the car where May was already standing outside it. 

“Oh thank god I was just about to come in after you.” She laughed, holding a hand over her chest. She surveyed the pair and was glad to note that Peter didn’t need a change of pants. “You made it- yay!”

_ “May please.”  _ Peter sighed frustratedly, ignoring the smirk on Tony's face as he buckled him in. 

“What? I can’t be proud of you?” She laughed lightly as she climbed back into the car herself; and Peter didn’t fail to notice the candy wrappers that now lined the back of it. Clearly she’d made herself busy getting snacks in the gas station while Peter was having a traumatising experience in the toilets. 

“I’m fifteen!”

“Oh now you remember.” Tony muttered as he shut the door to walk around to the driver's seat. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Peter yelled giving his mentor the filthiest look he could muster. 

“Exactly what I said.” 

Peter spent the rest of the short car ride sulking, whilst Tony and May discussed exactly what would happen when they got back to the tower. Bruce was already up and waiting for them in the medical bay and Happy was going to meet them at the elevator with a wheelchair- so luckily the transition should have been a simple one. Should being the operative word because Peter started kicking up a fuss saying he didn’t want to be put in a pushchair like a baby- partly because he was being a grumpy teenager and partly because his concussion was really starting to set in. 

Whilst the kid had a drunken argument with his mentor May took the opportunity to look at his leg. The sock he’d used to protect it from the elements had slipped down slightly revealing the swollen and bruised flesh underneath but..it didn’t look nearly as bad as she’d remembered. Sure, it was a possibility that she had just panicked in the moment and fabricated a far worse injury, but she could’ve  _ sworn  _ that his leg was far more swollen when they left the house. It must’ve been, they’d barely been able to slip his pant leg over his calf before and now the fabric was loose enough to slip down to kid shin. That was odd.. 

She shook the feeling off, assuming that it was normal for swelling to dissipate that quickly. Though she may not have been a nurse like Ned’s mother, but she’d been in plenty of medical emergencies with her accident prone nephew before and plenty of broken bones. They hadn’t even iced his leg before Tony got there and the bruises already looked a few days old. 

“Petey?”

“Mm?” Peter groaned, peeling his face away from the window to look blearily after his aunt. He’d been focused on trying not to puke after finishing his argument with Tony, so turning his head wasn’t much fun. 

“Were you hurt before?”

“Huh?” Peter blinked, confused by the question. Since the brain fog had descended he didn’t catch on to the underlying question May was asking; but luckily Tony did. 

“Why May?” The man asked from the front seat. He looked at May in the rear view mirror and he followed her gaze. She was looking straight at Peter’s leg  _ shit.  _

“Those bruises look kinda old- don’t they?” She asked Tony this time, verbally asking if she was going crazy or if her nephew was recovering remarkably fast. 

“It’s probably just the light.” Tony said smoothly, gesturing to the warm orange street lights lining the road they were on, that painted the inside of the car a warmer tone than usual. 

The woman hummed in response seemingly satisfied with that answer and Tony breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully Peter was too out of it to contribute much to the conversation other than announcing that he felt sick again. “Alright buddy, we’re almost there. Deep breaths. We’ll get you fixed up.” 


	2. Why didn’t you tell me?

Once they arrived home, despite his previous grievances Peter clamoured into the wheelchair Happy provided without argument. He did note however that the bright white harsh lights in the elevator were burning his eyes, somehow seeming impossibly bright. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on his breathing and keeping his stomach under control instead of the pounding pain in his head and leg. 

“Mr. Stark I feel really sick.” Peter managed to mumble when whoever was wheeling him took a hard turn around a corner; which he later realized was him being pushed out of the lift. 

“Hap stop for a minute, I’ve got him.” Tony sighed and crouched next to the boy; putting a cautionary hand on his shoulder when he slumped forward. They sat still for a moment long enough for Peter to persuade his stomach into behaving and lift his head back up, though his eyes stayed firmly closed until they reached their destination; Where they were met by an unusually perky Dr. Banner. 

“Good morning Peter.” The doctor smiled when Tony wheeled a very gray and bandaged boy into his office. 

“Mornin’ Dr. Banner.” Peter mumbled politely as he forced himself to open his eyes. He knew the figure standing in front of him was Bruce based on his size and pigmentation, but his vision certainly wasn’t 100%. Had it not been for the man’s voice and the setting Peter would have had no chance in deciphering who that blurry blob was. “M’sorry Mr. Stark had to wake you up.” 

“Don’t you worry about that, it’s perfectly fine. Let’s see what you’ve got going on under here first shall we? Then we’ll get you to X-Ray.” Bruce said gently, noting how Peter winced at every small sound. Due to the concussion it was likely the boy was losing control of his supersenses, so his hearing was probably extra sensitive. With Tony’s help, they got the boy sat up on the examination table, the doctor retreating behind him so he could get a good look at his head whilst Tony stood in front of him in case Peter fell forward again; they were also careful to position Peter to where May couldn’t see the back of his head anymore. As soon as Bruce cut off the gauze and pulled away the dressings, he hummed; “Hmm. Yep, it’s stitches for you I’m afraid. I’ll get you some painkillers after the numbing kicks in.” 

Being a doctor he showed little reaction on his face though he did shoot Tony a slightly concerned look as he busied himself drawing up a dosage of pain medicine to give to him later, as well as accumulating all the tools he needed. He also went ahead and prepped Peter to give him a cannula since he knew he’d be giving the boy more than one dose of medication and possibly fluid later. Once the IV port was in place he started working on Peter’s head. 

Despite the Industrial strength numbing injection, as soon as Bruce began to clean his skin Peter felt it; a stinging burn started to nibble away at the edges of the cut where Bruce had wiped with the antiseptic solution and he couldn’t help but hiss. His stupid metabolism had already burned through the injection- couldn’t it have waited two seconds?

Bruce instantly pulled his hands away. “Did you feel that?” 

“No it’s..it’s fine.” Peter muttered through gritted teeth but it was painfully obvious he was lying. He looked up at Tony who was studying him with worried eyes, trying to silently convey  _ why  _ he couldn’t ask for more numbing. 

“Hold on Bruce.” Tony sighed, whipping out his phone and trying to think of an excuse to get the only person who didn’t know Peter was a superhuman out of the room. “May my dear, I’m really sorry but you’re going to have to go down and sign in at reception.” 

“What?” She tilted her head confusedly. “I’ve never had to do that before?”

“New regulations.” Tony shrugged, the lies rolling off of his tongue without so much as a second thought. He knew the story was weak but it was best not to over complicate things. He also knew if he delivered it with enough conviction he could convince anyone of just about anything. That was his superpower. “All staff or visitors have to sign in nowadays- Peter doesn’t count since technically he’s my pet-“

“Hey!”

“Ward, I meant ward. You know, legal guardian, he’s a minor, all that stuff.” Tony waved his hand vaguely, though in reality he was texting Steve to come and stage the whole affair. He knew the blond would be able to whip up some bogus papers for her to sign and stall her long enough for them to see Peter’s head sewn up at the very least. “Klondike is gonna come and escort you down.” 

The woman looked rather reluctant, stealing a look at Peter who was paler than ever. “I don’t know, can’t it wait until after he’s less- you know, holey.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Holy saint Peter. Won’t I kid?” Tony smirked when Peter went to slap at him but completely missed thanks to his double vision. “We’ll have Humpty Dumpty back together again in no time.”

“I’ll be fine, May.” Peter joined in, though his aunt's expression turned from one of concern to one of anger again. 

“I don’t trust you not to do something stupid.” She squinted at the boy. Ah. So much for her waiting until after he was patched up to be mad at him. Despite her obvious reservations when Steve appeared in the doorway (dressed in people clothes but his hair still a wild bed-headed mess) she went with him without argument; but not without one last menacing look. “Behave yourself, and if it hurts speak up, okay?” 

Peter nodded and caught the kiss his aunt blew towards him as she left the room; and he didn’t fail to notice the face Steve made when he looked at his head. For a super soldier the man was a little squeamish- but hey, Peter wasn’t one to judge, he had almost fainted at the sight of his own blood not a few hours earlier. The blond hightailed it out of the room with only a small wave as a greeting, though in fairness the blond looked half asleep. 

“Okay, now your sexy aunt is gone, we can get down to business.” Tony clapped his hands and ignored the glare he received from the kid for the nickname. 

“Do you need more numbing, Pete?” Bruce asked, ignoring Tony in favour of treating his patient. When the boy nodded he set about injecting the sight again, only this time Peter pulled away from him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I-“ Peter clamped his mouth shut and trembled slightly, his eyes going wide. He swallowed hard and sat back up straight, though he was decidedly less stable than he had been; swaying where he sat. “I’m fine.” 

“Peter..” Bruce started suspiciously, eying the boy up and down when the teen made a small choking noise. “Are you-“ 

“I’m gonna be sick.” Peter strained out rushedly before clapping a hand over his mouth and retching. Thankfully Tony was quick to place a trash can under the boys nose before vomit came cascading out of his mouth. “Oh god- I’m sorry-“ 

“What’re you apologising for you idiot.” Tony tutted, though his voice was calm and lacked any real bite. He wasn’t being mean he just wasn’t exactly used to..well speaking nicely to people. Especially when he was stressed. It was rare that he was left in a caregiving position and even rarer than he was expected to provide words of comfort. Even if he was becoming more comfortable in that role for Peter it still didn’t exactly come naturally. “You’re fine, relax.”

What did come naturally though was the physical contact he initiated to ease the boy through the process. He sat beside him on the examination table, pulling the boy to lean against him with one arm and keeping a firm grip on the trash can with the other; all the while he rubbed the boy’s back until he finished. Once Peter had stopped gagging and was just spitting into the bin he chanced conversation. “You done?” 

“Yeah I’m-“ Peter hiccuped as his head spun. “I’m sorry, that came outta nowhere.” 

“Yeah it kinda did.” Bruce smiled gently. 

“I think it was the noise.” Peter admitted with a small shudder. As soon as Bruce touched him, though he didn’t feel it anymore he could hear it. The gross squelching, scraping sound as Bruce attempted to cleanse the exposed subdermal tissue. The noise, the bright lights, the smell of blood mixed with iodine- all of a sudden his stomach hadn’t been able to take it anymore. 

“You got your earbuds in?” Tony asked, before just looking and seeing for himself that Peter hadn’t.

Peter shook his head. “I took them out in the shower..” 

That surprised Tony somewhat considering the thundering noise of the rushing water tended to trigger intense overstimulation for the boy and his sensitive hearing; but it put it down to Peter having one of his one man concerts again. “Hold on, I think I’ve got some spares.”

Bruce and Peter patiently waited for Tony to run down to the lab and retrieve his much needed ‘hearing-hinderers’ before starting the process again; though this time when the numbing wore off Peter didn’t dare protest. It hurt, not as badly as the first time but it still hurt, just not enough for him to verbalise it. Once Tony turned his hearing down to a reasonable level it was much more tolerable, despite the hot stinging and the pulling sensation Peter felt each time Bruce dipped the needle in and out of his skin. 

“So what did you hit your head on anyway?” The Doctor asked, trying to distract Peter somewhat from the pain. 

“I didn’t hit my head on anything, it hit me.” Peter pouted.

Bruce looked towards Tony for clarification; he’d been told the kid had fallen, not gotten into some kind of bar fight. The bearded man shrugged. “Curtain rail.”

“Ah.” Bruce nodded. 

“You should see the other guy.” Peter giggled. He wasn’t sure why but all of a sudden the pain seemed more manageable. It didn’t physically hurt any less, it was still a deep persistent throbbing ache in his leg and a sharp pain in his head- but he just didn’t seem to care as much. It was like someone had placed a warm blanket on top of him that drowned out the pain, pushing it into the back of his mind, making it nothing but background noise. He felt a heavy sense of calm washing over him, as well as a complete disinterest in what they were currently doing- which in his case was meant to be sitting still. “Hey what’s that-“ 

“Peter sit still, don’t touch that.” Tony said sternly as he grabbed Peter by the shoulders to stop him from reaching for whatever instrument had taken his fancy on the table. He was somewhat used to Peter getting distracted and straying from instructions, but he hardly expected to have to keep the boy on task when he was  _ having his head sutured.  _ ADHD or none, it was a pretty standard knowledge not to move around. 

“S’rry.” Peter murmured, dropping his shoulders shyly. However not two seconds later he was attempting to peer around the room again and this time he shuffled himself forwards as though he was about to get down off the bench. 

Of course Tony grabbed him and so did Bruce, it taking both of them using all of their strength to wrangle him back into place. In his semi coherent state Peter was using far more strength than was necessary to do simple things, another sign that he was losing control of his powers amidst the chaos. 

“Peter  _ no.”  _ Tony said sternly again once he got Peter back into position. “Sit  _ still.” _

“But I w’nna get down.” Peter grumbled, blinking confusedly at his mentor as though he didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to move. 

Surprisingly to Bruce, rather than growing frustrated Tony crouched down slightly so he was at eye level with Peter; and spoke in a calm, clear voice as though he was explaining something to a small child. “In a minute. Bruce is almost done, once he’s finished stitching your head we’re gonna get your leg taken care of, then you can move around okay? You need to be patient.” 

Peter didn’t respond other than by stilling his movements, though Bruce noticed he was growing increasingly agitated; continuously flinching and shifting every so often. JARVIS had been monitoring the boy’s vitals signs as well as conducting scans on the boy's head and he was showing signs of an advanced concussion; but luckily he had no severe contusions to his skull itself. The bone was fully intact thankfully; which Bruce had assumed it would be. He’d seen Peter take much worse hits than a lightweight object falling on his head, had he had a skull fracture the doctor would be majorly concerned. That being said Peter shouldn’t have a broken ankle either..

“Okay Spider-Man, you’re almost done.” Bruce hummed as he tied the last knot and moved on to adding some cautionary butterfly stitches over the top. “You’re gonna have a nice scar.” 

“Awesome.” Peter sighed. He personally didn’t hate the look of his battle scars but this was hardly a story he wanted to remember. The only thing he wanted to do was to get down off of the table, the high bench was only perpetuating the seasick feeling he was having; he wanted to get closer to the ground so he felt more stable. “C’n I get down now?” 

The doctor nodded, removing his gloves and stepping around the table to help Tony get the boy down. “Sure we’ll get you back in the wheelchair and take you to-“

But apparently Peter had entirely forgotten why he was there in the first place. No sooner had Bruce confirmed that he could move he tried to do so himself and scooted himself right off the bench. At the last second he realised ‘oh yeah I have a  _ broken leg’ _ and tried to retreat but ended up slipping.  _ Again.  _

“No it’s okay I got it- woah!” Right as he slipped, he had the forethought to protect his ankle and raised it off of the ground, manually lifting it up so it wouldn’t hit the floor like the rest of him; but that meant he had no hands to protect anywhere else. Had it not been for Tony grabbing him around the waist and Bruce diving over the table to hold him under his arms he would’ve undoubtedly undone all of the work Bruce had just done to his head. After getting over the initial shock Peter looked up at Tony who was staring at him wide eyed with mixture of anger and confusion and gave him a sheepish smile. “Hehe thanks.” 

Tony was too shocked to react super angrily, but his expression certainly soured as he lifted Peter up Princess style and deposited him in the wheelchair. “Sit. Stay.”

“I’m not a dog.” Peter pouted dramatically, making his mouth pop as he slammed his jaw closed and jutted out his bottom lip. 

“If you’re good I’ll get you a Scooby snack, now sit.” Tony sighed tiredly. He wasn’t sure why the boy's behaviour was suddenly shifting but he hoped it wouldn’t get much worse. He really didn’t want to see any more injuries. “If you behave yourself I'll think of a good excuse to get aunt hottie off your back about sneaking out again.”

“Really?”

“Really, but you’ve gotta stay still okay?” Tony instructed again, hoping this time that the kid would listen. They managed to transfer Peter onto the X-Ray bench without major incident, though the kid did keep twisting into odd positions other than the one Bruce had placed him in. Once he finally grasped the concept that couldn’t move Tony handed him the lead shielding apron. “Cover your lap.”

“Why?”

“Because your babies are gonna be radioactive enough.” Tony rolled his eyes. The kid had had plenty of X-rays before he knew the drill. He was growing ever more concerned about Peter’s state deteriorating. “Bruce how’s his concussion coming along?”

“Nicely.” The doctor sighed.

Tony frowned. Whilst he knew it was a good thing that Bruce wasn’t majorly concerned, Tony was and he wanted the man to take him a bit more seriously (even though he knew he was overreacting somewhat he couldn’t help it, this was his kid dammit). “Well he’s getting worse.” 

“It can take a while for the symptoms to start, you know that.” Bruce shrugged. “We should count ourselves lucky he’s goofy instead of swinging. Remember what happened last time?” 

“Hmm.” He did know that but he’d been hoping for some more words of comfort from the doctor. After placing themselves behind the radiation shield, Tony and Bruce started discussing what various medications they were going to administer. While Bruce set about taking several pictures of Peter’s fractured ankle, the boy decided that it was the perfect time to start fiddling with his IV port. “Peter don’t touch that!” 

They made it through the X-ray and low and behold Peter had a textbook break to both the bones in his leg. Unfortunately due to his accelerated healing the bones were no longer cleanly broken, but had already partially fused back together. 

“Well, you have a compound fracture to both your fibula and tibula.” Bruce sighed, running a hand over his face whilst he showed the boy the scans. 

But Peter didn’t seem too concerned. In fact he was looking over the images with far more intrigue than he probably should have. “Cool!” 

“Not cool.” Tony frowned. 

“Of course it’s cool m’ster Stark, it’s always cool to see my bones.” Peter laughed to himself, turning Bruce’s tablet every which way round entertaining himself when the image flipped to compensate. 

“Not when you could use them as a try square, kid.” This time Tony didn’t hesitate to facepalm. Just how in the hell was he going to get around this with May? The kid had to have a cast on- even if he only had it for a few days, they couldn’t hide that from the boy’s aunt. He’d just gotten a text from Steve saying he couldn’t stall her for much longer so they had to come up with something quickly. “What are we gonna tell May?” 

“Hmm.” Bruce hummed, having been considering it himself. “We could say he needs surgery?”

“How is that going to hide the break exactly?”

“Well it won’t, but it’ll buy us a couple days to figure out what to do. If he has ‘surgery’ here we can keep him at least overnight then figure out how we can hide his not-broken leg for the next few weeks.” 

Tony groaned. It wasn’t the best plan, it came with some strings attached- namely May getting worried- and it still wasn’t a long term solution, but it was the best they had. Tony certainly couldn’t think of anything else, he was tired as fuck and admittedly, he just realised, maybe still a  _ teensy _ bit drunk from his earlier escapades with Pepper. Maybe he shouldn’t have driven earlier- but hey nothing bad happened and his kid needed him. Getting a call saying Peter was hurt had certainly sobered him up anyway. 

Once they’d established a convincing enough lie about Peter needing surgery to correct the break in his leg Tony was tasked with delivering the story to May whilst Peter was whisked off to another room to get an ice pop. They all felt rather guilty for the trickery but they knew it was the best outcome; she might be worried about surgery but she’d be even more worried if she found out the truth. Plus with the surgery argument that meant Tony could keep him over for a while until the break healed and they figure out what they’d do when he went home; how they’d hide it and whether or not Peter would have to fake a broken leg for the next few weeks or if Tony could come up with another plan. She insisted on waiting around for a while and Tony wasn’t about to deny her that right; so he told her that they were prepping him for surgery and then she could come and see him. 

But then they ran into a slight problem. 

“Tony I can’t put a cast on him.”

“What? Why not?” Tony asked incredulously as he stepped back into the room. 

“His bones are already fused in the wrong position, the only option is to rebreak them..” Bruce trailed off and Tony grimaced. They turned to Peter to get his verdict on the situation, but the boy didn’t seem to care too much. 

“Okay.” Peter shrugged. 

“Okay?” 

“Well yeah, I mean I can’t really argue can I?”

“That’d be a first.” Tony muttered under his breath. 

After scowling at the man Peter turned back to Bruce. “If it needs doing it needs doing- but this way is it always gonna be weak? Like am I gonna need physio and stuff? When am I gonna be able to train again?”

Bruce smiled, relieved that Peter wasn’t scared at the news. “Let’s take this one step at a time, huh?”

Peter nodded, content to let Bruce do what he had to do. Though he did have something more pressing that he wanted taken care of first, so he tugged on Tony’s sleeve. 

“Can I go pee first?” He whispered shyly once Tony crouched down. Even though he was far more comfortable with the rest of the team now he was still embarrassed to have to ask. Especially in front of Bruce. 

“Sure, c’mere.” Tony said easily, knowing the process would be much easier than it had been at the gas station now that Peter wouldn’t be freaking out over germs. “Ready? Alright up you- jeez kid careful!” 

Once again Peter completely miscalculated just how much force was necessary to stand up, and subsequently almost knocked himself and Tony over when he sprang up. He didn’t understand why he was being yelled at though, since this time he’d let Tony help him as opposed to trying to get up on his own. “What?” 

“Don’t throw yourself around like that.”

“Hehe.”

“Peter that’s not funny.” Tony frowned seriously. Oh yeah, the kid's concussion was definitely getting worse. He prayed to god he never saw the kid drunk because there was no fucking way he was doing this every weekend whilst the kid was in college. If Peter even made it to college at this rate- couldn’t even trust the kid to bathe without getting himself into trouble. 

“I didn’t say it was.” He giggled. 

“Then why are you laughing?”

“M’not- can we go pee now please?” Peter slurred, swaying dangerously and his eyes were seriously unfocused. 

“Bruce?” Tony called back worriedly. 

“Yeah?”

“Did you already give him some anaesthetic?”

“No, why is he acting loopy?”

“Getting there.” Tony muttered as he glanced down at the kid lazily resting his head on his shoulder. 

“Tony hurry up I gotta  _ go.”  _ Peter whined with a small hop that Tony assumed was meant to be a foot stomp. 

“I gave him some of Steve’s pain meds when you were talking to May. They’re probably a little stronger than he’s used to, be careful with him.”

“Yeah that would’ve been nice to know.” Tony scowled at the doctor, to which Bruce held his hands up admitting guilt. “Come on kid, let’s get you to the bathroom so Bruce can get you fixed up.”

“Mkay.” Peter agreed easily. Thankfully Peter didn’t fight Tony about getting in the wheelchair; even though it was only a very short walk to the bathroom, with the way the kid was fumbling about the place Tony didn’t trust him. Peter was able to pee without any incident though Tony noted the kid managed to go with him still in the room which was nothing short of a miracle. After propping the kid up to wash his hands despite Peter having not touched anything warranting him doing that, Tony got him back into the chair, ready to wheel him back out. “Wait!”

“What?”

“You didn’ wash your han’s.” Peter slurred accusingly, missing out letters and syllables left and right. 

“No because I didn’t do anything.”

“But I did?” Peter was clearly confused and as tired and irritable as he was Tony couldn’t help but find it amusing. 

“Yeah and like I said earlier I’m not on diaper duty. Hand washing does not pertain to me.” He might not have been required to help Peter change but he did make a point of helping the boy tie his pants because they were dangerously close to slipping down and the kid either didn’t notice or didn’t care. God what the hell did Bruce put in those painkillers and where could Tony get some. 

“Well make sure you do after you go m’kay? Otherwise that’s nasty.” Peter instructed seriously. 

“Will do bud, don’t worry.” Tony assured him with a light laugh. He started wheeling him back but the kid was being extra animated, making the process of pushing him in a straight line far more difficult than it needed to be. “Careful, Pete chill, there's no rush.”

“Yeah there is.”

“Why are you so excited to get your bones broken?” 

“I’m not, I wanna get this over with so everyone can go to bed, I feel bad keeping you all up.” The boy frowned, that being the first lucid thing he’d said in an hour. 

“Don’t worry about it kid, really. None of us mind.” Tony shook his head and Peter gave him a look like he was stupid. “Well of course, we’d prefer it if you didn’t go around injuring yourself but it’s okay.” 

Tony got Peter back up on the examination table whilst Bruce scurried around the medibay; bringing over monitors and machines so he could get a precise view of what he was doing, and where he needed to apply pressure to give Peter the best possible chance of having straight bones again. 

“This is gonna hurt, huh?” Peter sighed before laying himself completely flat and squeezing his eyes shut. He wasn’t particularly scared of the pain, he knew he could tolerate it, but what he detested was the build up. He almost wished someone would just run up and do it without the dreaded count down first. That always seemed to make it hurt more. 

“Yes.” Tony said simply. There was no use sugarcoating it, the kid was about to have his bones snapped and dragged about, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. But what he couldn’t do with words he decided to make up for with physical affection. “Here.”

Peter opened his eyes to Tony holding his hand out for him to hold. As tempting as the offer was he wouldn’t allow himself to take it. “No I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“You won’t.” The man said confidently. 

“But I will I won’t be able to control my strength and I’ll break your hand and- and-“

“You won’t kid, trust me.” Tony had held plenty of superhero hands before without them breaking it. In fact the only person who had managed to break his bones was Nat and she didn’t possess any super strength beyond a normal capacity. “Close your eyes.” 

“You ready Peter?” Bruce asked incredulously Peter relented and took hold of his mentor's hand. 

“Yep.” 

“Do you want some gas and air?” They all knew he couldn’t really give the kid any real pain medicine as he’d burn through it too quickly and Bruce hadn’t made him pain medicine strong enough to numb that kind of pain. Of course they could try and give him some of Steve’s but that was risky; all of his drugs were tailored personally to him, taking his metabolism and size into account, both of which were different from Peter’s. Well, general pain medicine was fine, but Bruce wasn’t comfortable giving the kid any of Steve’s strong stuff. It would be a waste of time and resources, they’d be better off giving him pain medicine after the fact. 

“Nah, it’s not worth it.” Peter waved his free hand flippantly. He knew gas and air would have little to no affect on him since his body would burn through it before it had the chance to give him any relief. Besides he was tired and he wanted to get the job done so they could all go to bed; he didn’t feel like waiting for Bruce to set up anything else. “It’s just a placebo anyway, let’s just get this over with.”

“Okay, take a deep breath in.” Bruce placed the palm of his hand on the bottom of Peter’s foot, grasping it firmly; ready to apply pressure swiftly upwards and rotate his ankle to an appropriate angle. Bruce crouched slightly and squared his shoulders, trying to ready himself to apply enough force necessary. In his experience Superhero bones were rather unyielding. “Hold it and out on three okay? Ready? One, two, three-“ 

Despite forcefully expelling air through his lips Peter couldn’t help but notice the pain was absolutely excruciating. He expected it to hurt but not like  _ that.  _ Whenever he’d had bones realigned before the pain was usually sharp and unexpected, but followed by a dull aching relief as the pressure in the area dissipated and various bodily fluids rushed to swell the affected area. But not this time, the sharp pain lingered and he felt no shifting, no bone on bone and he certainly didn’t hear that distinct cracking sound he had heard in the shower. At first he tried to kid himself into thinking maybe it was due to the severity of the break- maybe it was normal and he just wasn’t used to that kind of pain yet, but one look at Bruce’s face told him otherwise. 

He tried his best not to make a noise but he couldn’t help but grunt as Bruce’s hand slipped off of the bottom of his foot with a dissatisfying lack of yielding from his recently refused bones. As the doctor gently lowered his foot Peter squeezed the bedframe tight enough to bend the metal, but squeezed Tony’s hand gently enough just for the man to feel a difference in his grip. 

“I’m sorry Pete, ah crap.” Bruce sighed, grabbing his own wrist and wincing slightly as he extended all of his fingers. 

“It’s okay D-Dr-  _ Mmm- _ Banner- hss.” Peter groaned as Tony helped him sit up. He had the overwhelming urge to vomit again but thankfully his stomach was empty and the dry heaves stayed that way. Despite his stomachs inability to empty he still found himself rolling ointo his side in an attempt to escape the sensation that he was about to, but he was blocked when Tony wrapped his arms around him and sat him up fully; where he stayed sitting up in a weird half hug whilst they waited for Bruce to recover from his failed attempt. 

“What happened?” Tony asked worriedly. He’d seen Bruce conduct a similar activity umpteenth times before; never before had he seen Bruce fail to appropriately set a bone. 

Bruce continued tapping at the screens and machines around him trying to see if he’d damaged Peter even more. “His bones are already fully fused, I didn’t get enough power behind me to break them.” 

Peter tilted his head like a confused puppy and tried his best to think of a helpful solution. Unfortunately his intellectual capacity was slightly impaired and his suggestion wasn’t favoured highly by the adults in the room. “Do you want me to kick a wall or something?” 

“Peter no..that’s a..that’s a terrible idea.” Bruce blinked slowly at the boy, whilst Tony just rolled his eyes. The latter man was used to Peter’s awful ideas and was well versed in ignoring them. 

“But if they’re all broke and squishy again you’ll be able to just stick ‘em back together-“

“Stop talking.” Tony sighed quietly before placing the palm of his hand over the boy's mouth; much to Peter’s indignation. Instead he focused his attention on the other rational thinking person in the conversation. “You wanna try again or are we talking surgery here?”

“Mmm mmm-mm!” Peter mumbled through Tony's hand before the man removed it. 

“What?”

“No surgery!” 

“I’ll try my best but I really don’t want to hurt you Peter.” Bruce cringed as he looked over the readings on one of the monitors. “I already caused some more soft tissue damage.” 

“Well now you know ya gotta push harder it’ll be fine.” Peter slurred confidently as he flopped back down on the bed. Now that the wave of intense pain was over he was back to not caring, feeling all light and floaty again. 

“Mind your  _ head!”  _ Tony snapped, putting his palm behind the boy’s skull right before he managed to smack it on the headboard. “Jesus Christ, Bruce can we just get this over with so you can give him some sedatives already? In fact why don’t we just knock him out anyway-“

“Nooooo!” Peter whined. “I don’t wanna be knocked out!”

“I was kidding- well, half kidding, just sit still, be quiet and squeeze my hand.” 

Two more attempts. All in all Bruce tried three times but every time his hand slipped and all he succeeded in doing was making Peter almost pass out from the pain and spraining his own wrist. 

“That’s it.” Bruce stood back, adamantly shaking his head after the last try. “I’m not going to try again. I’m sorry Peter, but I’m not.”

Peter tried to sit up but failed to do so without his eyes rolling back as he attempted to convince the man to try again. “No it’s fine I can take it-“

“No.” Tony said sternly. He turned back to Bruce. “So now what?”

The doctor rubbed the back of his head trying to think but looking unsure. “Uhhhm..maybe the surgery route would be best-“

“No!” 

“Peter relax-“

“I’m not having surgery! J-just get Thor to come smack it with mirrmirr!”

“With what?” Bruce chuckled at the boy's failed pronunciation. 

“Not now Bruce.” Tony sighed, seeing Peter pout. Though the kid’s idea, as stupid as it was, did get him thinking. “Would that work? Not with his hammer but getting Thor or Steve to come and do it?”

“Not Thor.” Bruce said wide eyed just imagining the kind of medieval battleground medical training the blond had. 

“Yeah not Thor.” Tony quickly agreed. 

So they sent for Steve. The man was looking marginally less tired now having fixed his hair since they last saw him with May. He also looked less disgusted by Peter’s appearance but they all figured it was the lack of blood now covering his face. “Hiya sport.”

“Hi Cap’n Rogers.” Peter murmured. By this point the kid was exhausted and about ready to go to sleep, but obviously he couldn’t yet, not without having his bones realigned. 

Peter zoned out whilst Bruce was explaining the complexities of his injury to Steve; he was more concerned with messing with the pillow behind his head- which led to him fiddling with his stitches and when the man pulled his hand away, a small slap fight with Tony. But eventually Steve was set up and ready to tackle his leg, though Peter didn’t have much faith. The man looked extremely nervous, even though he knew what he was doing, the blond was painfully aware that Peter didn’t have any strong pain medicine in his body and had already had his leg messed with enough. 

Very gingerly he grasped Peter’s leg in much the same was Bruce had, only his grip was distinctly firmer. “So Pete, I finally got around to watching number 52.”

Peter knew what Steve was doing. He was referring to the list Peter had made of pop culture movies for him to watch- and even if it was just a distraction Peter was intrigued to know just what the man thought of Forrest Gump. “Yeah?! What did you think?”

“It was good.” Steve continued talking about the parts he liked about the movie as he set about gently flexing Peter’s ankle; trying to ready the already damaged muscles for one last try before they all gave up and Peter got sent under the knife. 

Peter could tell Steve really didn’t want to hurt him but he didn’t have a choice; so Peter figured he’d ease the process. Steve managed to get it on the second go- only because he hesitated the first time on the second go Peter deliberately kicked against his hand, hard enough so they all heard a loud, gristley satisfying crack. 

Well it was satisfying for everyone but Peter. 

“Ow-  _ fuck you!”  _ Peter couldn’t help the curse from escaping his lips, before he bit down on his sleeve to try and rush through the rest of the pain. This time he actually allowed himself to squeeze Tony's hand, hard enough for his mentor to wince but thankfully he didn’t notice. 

“I’m sorry!” Steve cried and promptly put Peters foot down- backing away and holding his hands up. “I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry Steve, you realigned it.” Bruce said happily looking over the monitors and giving the soldier a thumbs up- but Steve looked less that thrilled. In fact he looked horrified, but they weren’t sure if that was due to the colourful language Peter had used or the fact that he’d hurt him enough to make him use said language. Tony leaned towards the latter as a look of guilt spread over the man’s face. 

“It’s okay Mr. Rogers- I’m sorry I swore at you it’s not your fault I- mmmmf.” Peter had tried his best not to make a fuss considering he was in a room full of superheroes who’d broken more bones than he had hot dinners- but good  _ god it hurt.  _ He thought he’d gotten through the worst of it but as soon as he took a breath in another wave of pain rippled through him enough to make the corners of his vision darken. 

“It’s alright kid, it’s alright.” Tony soothed, gently patting his hand. “Deep breaths, breathe through it, come on you know how to do this.” Tony coached Peter through the usual breathing exercises he had him do when the kid was panicking about something. “There you go, that’s good kid, real good. You alright?”

“Mm.” Peter finally managed to grumble out as Tony helped him to sit up slightly. As the room span he gave up trying to communicate anymore and let himself lean against his mentor with his eyes closed, still tightly gripping his hand as the adults conversed around him. “Th‘nks m’st’r R’g’rs.” 

“Wow kid that was impressive, I didn’t know it was possible to speak without enunciating any vowels.” Tony chuckled, earning himself a light punch in the gut from the kid who wasn’t capable of articulating a response. “What I think he said was thanks Steve.” 

“Please don’t thank me. I hope you feel better soon, Sport.” Was all the blond said, with a pale guilty look on his face as he slipped out of the room. The remaining men shrugged, thinking nothing of it. It wasn’t the first time they’d seen Captain America a bit green around the gills. 

“How’s it looking Brucey?” Tony asked once he’d gently laid a semi conscious Peter back down. 

“It all looks good on my end.” Bruce nodded happily. “Now we just gotta get you wrapped up.”

Peter blinked blearily. He’d forgotten all about having to have his leg strapped up- he’d been too busy trying not to faint from the pain. “Do I have to have a cast? Can’t I have one of those booties?” 

“How about we leave the decisions to the medical professional, kid.” Tony rolled his eyes. 

“I mean yeah but I'm allergic to plaster.” 

“What?” Tony paused, as did Bruce. They just stopped to look at the kid like he’d gone crazy. “You didn’t think that was something you should’ve let us know before we got to this stage?” 

“I’ve never broken a bone this bad around you guys before!” Peter cried defensively. It was true, they’d never had to cast the boy up before; they made do with splints and braces, he’d never needed the full shebang since minor fractures healed to mere sprains in a few hours usually. “ _ Someone  _ told me I couldn’t-“

“Oh so since I told you that you have a higher bone density you figured it would be okay to throw yourself around in the shower?!” Tony scowled. Only Peter would find a way to blame him for breaking his leg- it’s not tonys fault the kid didn’t have the forethought to put a bathmat down before he decided to have a Dolly Parton dance party. Thinking of which Tony added that to his mental todo list; order a bath mat on Amazon. 

“Yeah about that Peter..is that really what happened?” Bruce asked gently. He gave Peter a look after glancing briefly at Tony, trying to silently ask if he wanted to have their conversation  _ in private _ , but Peter just looked confused. 

“Yeah?” Peter tilted his head. “I mean if I was gonna lie I’d say I did it doin’ something cool like, I don’t know, fighting a shark or something.”

“Well it’s a compound fracture, and Tony's right you shouldn’t be able to just break your ankle like that.” Bruce said with a frown though he had to admit, fighting a shark would have been an interesting lie to try and pull off and it was interesting to hear what the concussed boy thought quantified a ‘cool’ way to break his leg. “I’ve seen you take way worse hits than a slip in the shower.”

Now Peter was thinking about it,  _ really thinking about it- _ as best he could with a concussion and superdrugs in his system, there was an incident he recalled that  _ might  _ be a contributing factor as to why his bone snapped so easily. “Uhh- well, come to think of it, it has been a bit sore lately.” 

Tony squinted at him. This was news to him considering the boy had specifically told him nothing else had happened.  _ “Lately?” _

“Yeah.”

“How long is lately?” Bruce asked for clarification, both adults now studying Peter with deep concern as they were wondering just what the boy had managed to hide  _ this time.  _

“Uhhh I don’t know, a couple weeks. After you confiscated my suit, Mr. Stark.” Peter clarified. 

“A couple weeks?” Tony’s crown deepened as he mentally retraced his steps and just what had led to the boy getting his suit privileges revoked in the first place. “Karen didn’t report any injuries.”

“Well no it started hurting  _ after.”  _ Peter pouted. He’d just said that- weren’t they listening to him? 

“Well thanks kid that was really helpful.” Tony shook his head. That still didn’t give them an explanation other than it being sore- but  _ why  _ was it sore? And another question,  _ why  _ hadn’t the little idiot told him it was hurting? 

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately for Peter) Bruce was one step ahead. Rather than mentally retracing, Bruce pulled up JARVIS’ monitoring for every time Peter had been to the tower in the past fortnight. Whenever the teen was in the building his vitals were scanned constantly; just general things, like heart rate and so on- but the computer also took precautionary full body scans. For Peter it was mostly so the kid didn’t sneak any tech out of the lab, so JARVIS hadn’t been programmed to report back unless Peter was found to have forgein materials on him; but oh boy was Tony about to rewrite that code to include medical anomalies too because Bruce found the route of the problem. 

“He’s been walking on a broken ankle for two weeks.” The doctor said quietly interrupting Tony and Peter’s bickering. 

_ “What?!”  _

“Ohh.” Was all Peter thought to say. To him it was just an explanation for the mild pain he’d had- he figured it was just a sprain or a pulled muscle that made his leg hurt every time he worked out. 

“Oh?! That’s all you have to say  _ oh?!”  _

“It wasn’t that bad! Just a twinge every now and then!”

“Yeah those twinges were you exacerbating a hairline fracture.” Bruce continued as he scrolled through the scans, watching how the injury got progressively worse with each trip to the tower (and each training session with Steve). What started as a small chip in the bones slowly expanded until the crack ran across the whole width of them. It made sense why Peter had managed to break his leg so easily- all it would have needed was one swift sharp blow and boom, compound fracture. 

However Peter still looked confused, understandably so. “But I’ve had hairlines a bunch before- they heal up in like a few hours.”

“Yes. When you rest and don’t do any exercise- have you still been running?”

“Yeah..” The teen said guilty. 

“Climbing up walls and such?”

“Well yeah but- but only in training I haven’t been on patrol I promise!” Peter said even more guiltily, stealing a glance at his mentor whose eyes were angrily boring into him. 

“You never gave the bone a chance to fully heal, that’s why it’s so weak.”

“I thought a broken bone healed stronger than before?”

“Jesus fucking Christ kid.” Tony snapped angrily, butting in because he was sure Peter was being facetious at that point. “Did you not listen to what he just said?”

“I did!” 

“How did you break it in the first place?” Bruce jumped in again, trying desperately to mediate but also understand why they weren’t informed. It still would have taken a pretty reasonable force to fracture Spider-Man’s leg in the first place. 

“Uhm..I don’t remember..?”

“Peter.” Tony said lowly. Did the kid really think he could get away with lying? He couldn’t get away with it when he was fully consious and coherent, why the fuck did he think he could get away with it now? 

“I it- it was a little sore after the call we went on- you know the one down by Holland Tunnel- but it was fine, I disengaged Karen but I knew it wasn’t broken like bad- but then I got hit by that car and I think that might have-“

“YOU WHAT?!” Tony bellowed ear piercingly loud and even though he wasn’t thinking clearly Peter should really have thought of a more tactile way of breaking the news. 

“It wasn’t bad- it wasn’t bad! It was my fault!” 

“What do you mean you got hit by a car?!”

“I went out for a run, it was dark and I got hit- well I hit it- I ran into it-”

“You don’t go running in the dark you stupid little boy- especially without your suit! You could’ve gotten abducted!”

His boss calling him a little boy in such a serious tone in front of one of their colleagues made Peter's face flush red. “Well I didn’t!”

“No you just got hit by a fucking car, broke your fucking ankle and  _ didn’t fucking tell me!”  _

“Jesus Tony thats thirty bucks in the jar for you-“

“Shut up Bruce!” Tony growled making the doctor quickly scoot out of his line of sight- giving Peter a quick look that said ‘sorry kid but you’re on your own.’ “Peter answer me!” 

“I thought I was okay..” Peter said quietly. He wasn’t so used to Tony screaming recently- it had been a while since he’d made the man mad enough to do so, a long while; and though he’d since heard the man shout at everyone else having it directed at him suddenly made him feel really..small. Or maybe it was the head trauma- he wasn’t sure. All he was sure about was that he didn’t want to be yelled at anymore. “It- it didn’t hurt that bad and I thought it was okay since I- I could still do everything I usually do but..I don’t know..”

“Christ Peter, you’re not invincible okay? You still have to be careful. You can’t just-  _ oh my god. _ ” At that point Tony turned away for a moment, putting his hands up behind his head and pacing back and forth a few times, trying to calm himself before he continued berating the boy. He knew the kid had been through enough that night, and he probably wouldn’t remember most of it in the morning, so he didn’t want to completely lose it- but  _ Jesus Christ.  _ “Please for the love of god if something like that happens, even if you feel fine,  _ tell me _ , okay? Please.” 

“Okay okay I’m sorry I just- I didn’t wanna bother you.” Peter murmured shyly, suddenly taking extreme interest in the pattern on his sweatpants as opposed to looking at his mentor’s face. 

“Bud look at me.” Tony sighed, wiping a hand over his face before making a concerted effort to lower his tone. “You’re never a bother alright? If you were, do you think I would’ve jumped out of bed at 2 in the morning to take care of you?”

“Yeah ‘cause you’re nice.” Peter shrugged. 

With that Tony’s face fell blank and he stood up straight again; ignoring Bruce’s snickers in the corner. “Wow I think you’re the first person to ever describe me as nice.”

“You’re always nice to me.” Peter said earnestly.

“Not always. But I’m working on it.” Tony said with a sigh as he sat on the edge of the bed. God it had been a long night; and as insanely upset as he was, he didn’t have the energy to give the kid a full lecture. Instead he decided to save it for the morning. “Come here kid.”

Cautiously Peter leaned into the half hug his mentor was offering and the man continued; though he hesitated like it could possibly be a trick, considering the man had been furious mere seconds ago, he quickly melted into the touch, especially when Tony started rubbing his back. “You’re never a bother, you’re never a burden, if you need me you can call me. Any time. It doesn’t matter what for, okay? There doesn’t even have to be a reason.” Tony felt Peter nod against his chest; and when he glanced down to make sure he wasn’t hitting the back of the kid’s head with his arm he caught sight of his ankle again and sighed. “There doesn’t have to be a reason- but getting _ hit by a car  _ is a pretty good reason I’d say.”

“You always say that, it's..it’s not your fault I can’t get my brain to believe it.” Peter murmured. 

Tong knew that was partially his fault. The kid had his self esteem and abandonment issues long before he got to him but all of his trying to help protect him combined with the Vulture stuff, which bordered on neglect in hindsight, didn’t exactly help build trust. 

“Well I’ll tell you a thousand times if that’ll make your brain believe me.” Tony sighed and hugged the kid a little tighter. “I’ve got you kid.” 

They sat there for a while, Peter distantly listening to Bruce explain to May what was going on in the other room; as the doctor had taken the pair's private moment to slip out and deal with her.

After briefly pretending to be unconscious so that May could come and say her goodbyes (that was hard, especially when the woman started crying, it took everything in Peter not to hug her or at least say I love you back..but he was a terrible actor and May would sense something was amiss instantly) she left. Part of Peter was sad of course, to have lied to her and worried her- but the rest of him was relieved because he’d essentially gotten away with it without her finding out about his Spidey powers and now she was gone it meant he could relax. And hopefully  _ sleep _ . 

Once they found an appropriate plaster substitute (after much trial and error and three test swatches before they found one that didn’t make the kid break out in hives) Peter was finally bandaged up; and by that point he was completely exhausted. “Am I allowed to go to bed now?” 

“I don’t know Peter, with your concussion and the meds I gave you I'd be a bit worried about you going to sleep.” Bruce said with a small grimace, cringing with sympathy. “You’re alert and coherent-  _ kinda- _ so the risks are smaller but still, if you could try and stay up for a couple more hours I’d be happier.” 

The teen looked less than pleased if his crossed arms and pouty lip were anything to go by. “What’re the risks anyway?”

“Well vomiting in your sleep, obviously, but with the ICP I’d be worried about you having a seizure.” Bruce answered easily. The swelling wasn’t too severe, at least not any more, but with any amount of cerebral edema Bruce knew it was best to air on the side of caution; especially with Super-people and their less than textbook bodies. Last time he’d underestimated a brain injury in someone with a supermetabolism Steve had ended up in a coma for two days after it took Bucky, Thor and the Hulk to take him down when he mistook the quintjet or his old fighter plane. Yeah he was still apologising for that now..

“It’s not like I’ve never had one of those before.” Peter grumbled, clearly still unimpressed. “Can’t you just slap an EEG on me or something?”

“Can’t you stop arguing with the doctor?” Tony chimed in from the corner of the room; shaking his head disapprovingly. “When you get your medical license you can pipe up but until then, shut your mouth and follow doctors orders.”

“Who does he sound like T?” Bruce hummed with a sly smirk on his face. 

“Shut up, Banner.” Tony growled before turning his attention back to Peter as he readied to transfer him (hopefully into a wheelchair but at worst onto his good leg). “A couple hours won’t kill you, but sleep might so suck it up buttercup.”

“You’ve got a real bedside manner Mr. Stark.” Peter pouted, though he accepted the man’s help, slipping his arm over his shoulder and scooting his way to the edge of the bed. 

“I’m renowned for it.” Tony deadpanned. He helped Peter shuffle his way down gently, so he didn’t throw his weight around again and jar himself, gently easing the boy upright until he was standing. “Come on, there we go.” 

Peter didn’t fight the wheelchair. He didn’t fight Tony practically picking him up and he didn’t even fight when the man insisted Peter go in his own bed as opposed to the living room where he usually preferred to camp out. Somehow with Bruce’s help Tony managed to get Peter safely in bed, his leg elevated, with an airplane pillow tucked behind his head to avoid his stitches making direct contact with anything. After shooting Peter up with another dose of drugs Bruce slipped out of the room to try and get a couple hours of rest before Steve demanded everyone stuck to schedule and came to eat breakfast at a normal time. 

“Alright you’re all set up kid- do you want a drink or anything?” Tony asked. He knew Peter couldn’t have anything to eat at it would be a choking hazard but the super kid had also thrown up and had nothing but an ice pop in his system- so Tony knew having a dehydrated concussed super-kid would be no fun for anyone. 

But Peter shook his head as best he could with it slumped against the pillow. “No m’fine, you can go to bed now.”

Tony watched as the second he so much as blinked Peter took the opportunity to try and close his eyes. “Uh uh, I’m fine. I’m used to all nighters, remember? I’m on Spidey-watch.”

“Mm.” Peter grumbled when Tony smacked his arm a couple times to make him open your eyes. 

“Oh come on, you usually love sleepovers.” 

“It’s not sleepover if you won’t lemme sleep.” 

“You’re the one who fights me at bed time.” Tony chuckled, remembering just how many times he was forced to hide the TV remote in order to get the kid to sleep on their movie nights. Oh how the tables had turned. “Come on kid, I'll even watch a couple episodes of that cartoon with you.” 

One of Peter's eyes crept open at that prospect. “Which one?” 

Tony wracked his brain trying to think about the latest one the kid had chattered on to him about. “Johnny’s magical adventure or something-“

“Jojo’s bizarre adventure?!”

“Sure that too.” Tony shrugged. “Whatever you want bud.” 

The plan worked. Suggesting watching a show with the kid, that he usually adamantly refused to, kept Peter awake long enough to be out of the danger zone; Peter being too occupied explaining the complexities of the show to get Tony caught up (even though he was barely listening) that he forgot how tired he was. But that only lasted for so long before he was back to slipping in and out of consciousness. At first Tony didn’t notice, as embarrassingly he actually found himself invested in the show- but when he looked back to ask the kid a question Peter was already drooling and snoring softly. 

Shaking the boy did nothing, Peter continued to sleep right up until Tony gave up. It had already been a couple hours, so Tony texted Bruce to see if it would be okay for him to just let him sleep. The doctor confirmed that it would be fine just to have JARVIS keep an eye on him, just in case. But Tony elected to stay in the boy’s room anyway; of course JARVIS was more than equipped to let Tony know if the boy needed anything, after the night's events he was feeling a little on edge- and he didn’t fancy being down in the lab should anything suddenly go ary. Tony had long resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be sleeping that night, but he didn’t mind. He had coffee, he’d survive. Only once it got to seven o’clock and he heard other people moving around did Tony eventure away from the boy’s side and even then he left his bedroom door open. Just in case. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know where I'm going with this lmao  
> But I'm trying my hand at writing more injury stuff and thi was my first attempt


End file.
